Outdoor unit of air conditioner

ABSTRACT

An outdoor unit of an air conditioner includes a main body casing, at least one shut-off valve, a shut-off valve cover, a conduit mounting plate, and a shielding portion. The at least one shut-off valve is attached to an outer surface of the main body casing and connected to a refrigerant pipe. The shut-off valve cover has an opening through which the refrigerant pipe passes. The shut-off valve cover covers the shut-off valve. The conduit mounting plate is attached at a position on the outer surface of the main body casing in an interior space in the shut-off valve cover. The shielding portion is disposed around the conduit mounting plate. The shielding portion prevents an intruding object that intrudes into the shut-off valve cover through the opening from contacting an electric wire extending out from a conduit mounted to the conduit mounting plate.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-192348 filed on Jul. 13, 2006. The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 192348 is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to an outdoor unit of an air conditioner. More specifically, the present invention relates to an outdoor unit of an air conditioner to which conduits are connected.

2. Background Information

Conventionally, in some countries and areas, it is required that electric wires covered by a conduit i.e., a highly insulating electric wire pipe, must be used when electric wires of a power supply cord, a signal cord or the like are connected to an air conditioner. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-74904 describes an air conditioner with a conduit to be used in such countries and areas.

With this type of air conditioner, conduits are connected to a conduit mounting plate attached to a frame of the air conditioner. An electric wire inside the conduit extends out from an end of the conduit mounted to the conduit mounting plate and is connected to a terminal block and the like.

The above-described conduit mounting plate may be attached to a side surface of an outdoor unit of an air conditioner and disposed in the interior space of a shut-off valve cover. The shut-off valve cover has a back side opening to pull out a gas refrigerant pipe and a liquid refrigerant pipe respectively connected to a gas refrigerant shut-off valve and a liquid refrigerant shut-off valve.

In this case, at a portion where the electric wires in the conduit barely extend from the end of the conduit mounted to the conduit mounting plate, an intruding object such as a hand or finger may come in contact with the electric wires if such an intruding object intrudes through the back side opening of the shut-off valve cover.

In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved out door unit of an air conditioner that prevents an intruding object from contacting an electric wire. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an outdoor unit of an air conditioner capable of preventing contact between an intruding object through an opening of a shut-off valve cover and an electric wire extending from a conduit mounting plate.

An outdoor unit of an air conditioner according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a main body casing, at least one shut-off valve, a shut-off valve cover, a conduit mounting plate, and a shielding portion. The at least one shut-off valve is attached to an outer surface of the main body casing and connected to a refrigerant pipe. The shut-off valve cover has an opening through which the refrigerant pipe passes. The shut-off valve cover is configured to cover the shut-off valve. The conduit mounting plate is attached at a position on the outer surface of the main body casing in an interior space in the shut-off valve cover. The shielding portion is disposed around the conduit mounting plate. The shielding portion is configured to prevent an intruding object that intrudes into the shut-off valve cover through the opening from contacting the electric wire extending out from the conduit mounted to the conduit mounting plate.

Here, since the shielding portion is disposed around the conduit mounting plate, it is possible to prevent an intruding object that intrudes into the shut-off valve cover through the opening from contacting the electric wire extending out from the conduit mounted to the conduit mounting plate.

An outdoor unit of an air conditioner according to a second aspect of the present invention is the outdoor unit according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the shielding portion is provided at an inner surface of the shut-off valve cover. The shielding portion includes a shielding rib extending from a vicinity of the conduit mounting plate.

Here, the shielding portion is provided at the inner surface of the shut-off valve cover and the shielding portion includes a shielding rib extending from the vicinity of the conduit mounting plate so that it is possible to dispose the shielding rib in the vicinity of the conduit mounting plate only by attaching the shut-off valve cover and it is possible to effectively prevent contact between the electric wire extending out from the conduit and the intruding object.

An outdoor unit of an air conditioner according to a third aspect of the present invention is the outdoor unit according to the first aspect or the second aspect of the present invention, wherein the shielding portion and the shut-off valve cover are integrally formed by synthetic resin.

Here, the shielding portion and the shut-off valve cover are integrally formed by synthetic resin to prevent an increase in the number of components and manufacturing cost.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent an intruding object that intrudes into the shut-off valve cover through the opening from contacting the electric wire extending out from the conduit.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, contact between the electric wire extending out from the conduit and the intruding object can be effectively prevented.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, an increase in the number of components and manufacturing cost can be prevented.

These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the attached drawings which form a part of this original disclosure:

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an outdoor unit of an air conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the outdoor unit of FIG. 1 with a shut-off valve cover removed;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of a shut-off valve and a conduit mounting plate in the shut-off valve cover of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the conduit mounting plate of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the arrangement of the conduit mounting plate and the shielding portion along arrow A of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view of a conduit mounted to the conduit mounting plate of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the drawings. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that the following description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention are provided for illustration only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Referring initially to FIG. 1, an outdoor unit of an air conditioner is illustrated in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

An outdoor unit 1 of an air conditioner shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a main body case 2, a plurality of shut-off valves 11, 12, a shut-off valve cover 3 and a conduit mounting plate 4. The shut-off valves 11, 12 and the conduit mounting plate 4 are attached to an outer surface of the main body case 2. The shut-off valve cover 3 covers the shut-off valves 11, 12 and the conduit mounting plate 4. The shut-off valve cover 3 includes a shielding portion 5, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5.

As shown in FIG. 2, an inside of the main body case 2 of the outdoor unit 1 houses an electric component box 21, a compressor 23, a heat exchanger 24, and a fan 25. The electric component box 21 houses an electric circuit board (not shown).

A terminal 22 of the electric component box 21 is configured to connect to electric wires EL1, EL2 (see FIG. 3) through an opening 2 a formed in the outer surface of the main body case 2.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the shut-off valves 11, 12 are attached to the outer surface of the main body casing 2. The shut-off valves 11, 12 are connected respectively to a refrigerant pipe RG for conveying gas refrigerant and a refrigerant pipe RL for conveying liquid refrigerant.

The conduit mounting plate 4 is attached to a position on the outer side surface of the main body casing 2 in an interior space 3 b of the shut-off valve cover 3. Two conduits C1, C2 are mounted to the conduit mounting plate 4.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, the conduit mounting plate 4 includes a main body portion 4 a, a screw stopping portion 4 b, and a plurality of reinforcement portions 4 f. The main body portion 4 a includes a plurality of mounting holes 4 c and 4 d into which each hollow external thread portion S (see FIG. 6) of the conduits C1 and C2 are inserted, respectively. In addition, the screw stopping portion 4 b is perpendicularly coupled to the main body portion 4 a. The screw stopping portion 4 b includes a plurality of screw holes 4 e into which screws for threadedly securing the screw stopping portion 4 b to the outer side surface of the main body case 2 are inserted. In addition, the reinforcement portions 4 f are connected to the upper and lower end surfaces of the main body portion 4 a and the screw stopping portion 4 b so as to reinforce the main body portion 4 a, thereby preventing the main body portion 4 a from bending and becoming unstable.

As shown in FIG. 6, the conduit C1 covers the power wire EL1. The conduit C2 covers the signal wire EL2 that connects between the outdoor unit 1 and an indoor unit (not shown). The conduits C1, C2 are difficult to bend because of a higher stiffness compared with that of the electric wires EL1, EL2. Accordingly, it is difficult to bend the conduits C1, C2 to directly connect to the terminal 22 of the electric component box 21 (see FIG. 2). Therefore, in a state in which the conduits C1, C2 are fixed to the conduit mounting plate 4, only the electric wires EL1, EL2 respectively inside the conduits C1, C2 are extended to connect to the terminal 22. Here, in order to fix the conduits C1, C2 to the conduit mounting plate 4, the hollow external thread portions S of the conduits C1, C2 are first inserted into the mounting holes 4 c and 4 d and then, a nut N is tightened to each hollow external thread portion S such that a flange T, circumferentially projecting from the root of each hollow external thread portion S, and the nut N sandwich the main body portion 4 a of the conduit mounting plate 4.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 3, and 5, the shut-off valve cover 3 covers the shut-off valves 11, 12, the conduit mounting plate 4, and the opening 2 a of the main body case 2. In addition, the shut-off valve cover 3 has a back side opening 3 a. The refrigerant pipes RG, RL, and the conduits C1, C2 extend out from the shut-off valve cover 3 through the back side opening 3 a.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the shielding portion 5 is disposed around the conduit mounting plate 4. Specifically, the shielding portion 5 includes a plurality of shielding ribs 5 a and 5 b that extend from the inner surface of the shut-off valve cover 3 in the vicinity of the conduit mounting plate 4. Accordingly, the shielding ribs 5 a, 5 b can be disposed in the vicinity of the conduit mounting plate 4 only by attaching the shut-off valve cover 3, which enables an effective prevention of contact between the electric wires EL1, EL2 extending out from the conduits C1, C2 and an intruding object. The shielding rib 5 a is configured to shield a portion above the conduit mounting plate 4 in the interior space 3 b in the shut-off valve cover 3. In addition, the shielding rib 5 b is configured to shield a portion below the conduit mounting plate 4 in the interior space 3 b in the shut-off valve cover 3. Accordingly, the back side opening 3 a and the electric wires EL1, EL2 are separated by the shielding portion 5. As a result, the shielding portion 5 prevents an intruding object, such as a hand or finger that intrudes into the shut-off valve cover 3 through the back side opening 3 a, from contacting the electric wires EL1, EL2 extending out from the conduits C1, C2 mounted to the conduit mounting plate 4.

The shielding portion 5 and the shut-off valve cover 3 are integrally formed by synthetic resin to reduce the number of components and manufacturing costs. Since the shut-off valve cover 3 is used in a state in which the shut-off valve cover 3 is exposed to the outside, the shut-off valve cover 3 and the shielding portion 5 are manufactured by using synthetic resin having excellent impact resistance, water-proof property and the like.

While only selected embodiments have been chosen to illustrate the present invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, the size, shape, location or orientation of the various components can be changed as needed and/or desired. Components that are shown directly connected or contacting each other can have intermediate structures disposed between them. The functions of one element can be performed by two, and vice versa. Thus, the foregoing descriptions of the embodiments according to the present invention are provided for illustration only, and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. 

1. An outdoor unit of an air conditioner comprising: a main body casing; at least one shut-off valve attached to an outer surface of the main body casing and connected to a refrigerant pipe; a shut-off valve cover having an opening through which the refrigerant pipe passes, the shut-off valve cover being configured to cover the shut-off valve; a conduit mounting plate attached at a position on the outer surface of the main body casing in an interior space of the shut-off valve cover; and a shielding portion disposed around the conduit mounting plate and configured to prevent contact between an electric wire extending out from a conduit mounted to the conduit mounting plate and an intruding object that intrudes into the shut-off valve cover through the opening.
 2. The outdoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the shielding portion is provided at an inner surface of the shut-off valve cover and includes a shielding rib extending from a vicinity of the conduit mounting plate.
 3. The outdoor unit of an air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the shielding portion and the shut-off valve cover are integrally formed by synthetic resin. 